Casablanca is a wartime romantic movie, considered by many to be one of the most romantic (and best) movies ever made.

This 1942 Warner Bros. film featured a screenplay by Howard Koch, based on an unproduced play, Everybody Comes to Rick's, by Murray Burnett and Joan Alison; this screenplay was in turn enhanced by the brilliant dialogue of the brothers Julius and Philip Epstein. The film was handed over to ace director Michael Curtiz, and the respected film composer Max Steiner provided the score. Early studio press releases had it that the film would star Ronald Reagan and Ann Sheridan — but this was just the studio's publicity department needing to put someone famous's name in the release, otherwise the announcement wouldn't get printed (they picked Reagan and Sheridan because it gave them an extra chance to remind audiences about Kings Row). George Raft also made a play for the lead role, but the studio had always planned the film as an A-list picture and had never considered anyone but Humphrey Bogart for its starring role.

The setting is Casablanca, Morocco in December 1941; the city is a melting-pot hotbed of refugees from Nazi oppression who are all desperately trying to make their way to the United States — and freedom — while trying to avoid the Vichy French authorities, their German masters, and opportunistic criminals. At the center of the story is protagonist Rick Blaine (Humphrey Bogart), the bitter, cynical American owner of Rick's Café Americain — which professes absolute neutrality to all, from the ruthless German commander Major Strasser (Conrad Veidt) and the corrupt, cynical French police chief Louis Renault (Claude Rains) to the desperate refugees and criminals who use his bar as a convenient place for dealings of all kinds.

Rick's claims of neutrality are pushed to the limit by the arrival of Ilsa (Ingrid Bergman) — the woman who broke Rick's heart when the Germans entered Paris — and her husband Victor Laszlo (Paul Henreid), a Czech resistance leader and Major Strasser's current favorite target. Ilsa had abandoned him upon learning that her husband, once thought dead, was still alive; now she and Victor need Rick's help in securing vital letters of transit that will allow them to leave the country and continue to fight the good fight against the Nazis. When it is gradually made clear that Ilsa — despite being with her husband — still loves Rick, Rick finds himself struggling with his heart, his anger, his gradually-revived sense of idealism, and the question of whether to sacrifice this new chance at happiness for the cause of something that is greater than all of them.

As an interesting side note: in his World War II espionage history Istanbul Intrigues, historian and political columnist Barry Rubin described the eponymous City of Spies as "a real-life Casablanca".

Accidental Adultery: Rick and Ilsa have this sort of tryst after Ilsa's husband Victor is presumed dead. She leaves Rick after Victor turns up alive, but much of the film is concerned with her being torn between the two of them.

Adaptational Alternate Ending: In the original play, Rick is arrested and sent to a concentration camp at the end. In the film, he befriends Louis and they go off to fight Nazis together.

Adopt the Dog: Rick tells Ilsa to stay with her husband for her own good and the good of the world, and then Louis refuses to turn Rick in for shooting Major Strasser and agrees to join the resistance. "Louis, I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship."

Seemingly Louis, at first, but ultimately subverted (the evil part that is, not the affable).

Even the Nazis are relatively affable at times - Strasser in particular is almost always exquisitely polite.

Affectionate Pickpocket: The guy who puts his arms around visitors and warns them about thieves while robbing them.

The Alliance: The Allies. Which they go out of their way to demonstrate.

All-Loving Hero: Victor Laszlo. It says something about him that the only person in the entire movie who isn't in complete awe and admiration of the utterly heroic and saintly resistance leader is the Nazi officer who has been sent to capture him, which is a ringing endorsement if ever there was one. He's so noble that he doesn't hold a grudge that his beloved wife, believing that he was dead, has fallen in love with another man, and his example is so powerful that that other man is eventually quite willing to sacrifice his one chance at happiness by convincing her to stay with him.

Anti-Hero: Rick is an anti-fascist who participated in the Spanish Civil War, losing miserably to Franco on each occasion. This and various personal failures led to him being exiled, whether by choice or circumstance, in "neutral" France. He does the dirty work of killing Strasser and smuggling the couple out of Casablanca.

Artistic License – Geography: "Waters? What waters? We're in the desert." Though not exactly rainy, the real Casablanca's mediterranean climate is not deserty, either. It is more like Los Angeles or San Diego (or Rome or Athens) than it is like Las Vegas or Phoenix (or Cairo or Mecca).

Artistic License – History: "I was with them when they blundered into Berlin in 1918." No enemy soldiers entered Berlin in 1918. The Allies had just reached Germany's western border when the war ended.

Batman Gambit: The outcome of Rick's eventual scheme depends heavily on the characters of the people involved.

Being Good Sucks: All three of the primaries make (or try to make) personal sacrifices for the greater good, and as often as not, it hardly matters. They all get a roughly happy ending, but none of them get what they want.

Berserk Button: Apparently, the song "As Time Goes By" has become this for Rick.

Rick (storming halfway across the cafe): Sam, I thought I told you never to play that... (sees Ilsa sitting there)

Big Good: Victor Laszlo. Those Wacky Nazis are willing to do just about anything, even violating Vichy "neutrality" (thus risking drawing the U.S. into the war) and letting known anti-fascist fighter Rick and Laszlo's "companion" Ilsa escape to America, if it means they can stop Laszlo.

Bittersweet Ending: Rick lets Ilsa leave with Victor and is forced to leave Casablanca for his role in the pair's escape. On the bright side, Victor and Ilsa are able to get away from Casablanca to continue to lead the fight against the Nazis for the resistance, and Rick has his sense of idealism revived.

Black Best Friend: Sam is a prototypical example. An interesting distinction, however, especially considering the context and culture of the time, is that Sam is never portrayed in a clownish or stereotypical way, nor is he a Magical Negro type, or anything other than a concerned and loyal friend to Rick. Sure, he tends to defer to Rick and addresses him as "Boss," but Rick is, in fact, his Boss, and he doesn't seem to be treated unfairly by the other characters or portrayed as inferior in any way, except perhaps in the sense that he's treated as a human juke box at times — but, again, that is his job. He's also one of the most highly regarded members of Rick's staff, getting a percent of the gross from Rick and a job offer from Ferrari.

"Blind Idiot" Translation: The elderly German (or, at least German speaking—possibly Austrian or Swiss) couple headed for America is trying to make the transition to using English to become better acclimated to American life.

The first German dub was so thoroughly denazified (by about 25 minutes) that it told a completely different story. It took them 23 years to make a faithful dub.

To this day, any reference to fascism or Italy is missing from the Italian version.

In the first Spanish dub, the reference to Rick's participation in the Spanish Civil War on the Republican side is omitted.

In Ireland, all references to Rick and Ilsa's affair in Paris (including the flashback scene and a lot of dialogue in the farewell scene) were cut, because Ilsa was still married to Victor (although he was presumed dead). Needless to say, this re-cut made absolutely no sense. The uncut movie was first shown on TV in Ireland in the 1970s.

Brooklyn Rage: When Major Strasser hints at the Nazis eventually invading New York, Rick quips that there are parts of the city that it would not be a good idea for the Germans to invade.

Building of Adventure: Except for the Flashback to Paris and the climactic scenes in the airport, nearly all of the action takes place in Rick's Cafe Americain.

Butt-Monkey: Captain Dorelli, the Italian military attache - even his allies never let him finish a sentence.

Bystander Syndrome: Rick appears this way for a while ("I stick my neck out for nobody"), especially when he seems willing to turn over a resistance leader to the Nazis because he is married to Rick's former lover. Eventually, however, we see that Rick isn't nearly as selfish as he lets on.

Likewise in Ferrari's first conversation with Rick: "My dear Rick, when will you realise that in this world today, isolationism is no longer a practical policy?"

Catch Phrase: Casablanca has six quotes on the AFI's 100 top film quotes list, more than any other movie. "Here's looking at you, kid.", "Play it, Sam.", and many others. It's so hard to pick a page quote.

Central Theme: Are there some causes so worth fighting for that even love should be sacrificed to fight for them?

Chandler American Time: Geography aside (the film doesn't take place in America, but Rick is debatably an Anthropomorphic Personification of Neutral America), the film's timing (the first week of December, 1941) places it at the very tail chronological end of the setting.

Not just one, but two with Rick and Louis, who start the movie perfectly happy to drink or screw themselves to death without a care for what goes on outside Casablanca. Rick struggles to hold on to his shallow, cynical life even toward the end, when he claims he's no good at being noble while outdoing the nobility of even Laszlo (Laszlo, after all, has every reason to believe he can escape from the Nazis again; Rick was assuming he'd be summarily shot or turned over to the Nazis).

Louis' change of heart is more sudden but no less complete: Strasser's death was clearly caused by either him or Blaine, with Louis' lie obvious either way. His subordinates could have turned them both in for a promotion.

The French also show their Heroic Resolve by defiantly singing "La Marseillaise" and drowning out the Germans in the bar.

The Chessmaster: Rick is first seen playing chess. We never see him play against an opponent, but there is an opened letter next to the board, indicating he's playing some unknown foe by correspondence.note In reality, Bogie really was playing chess by mail with an American soldier, as was his hobby at the time. When finally called into action, Rick is seen manipulating other characters—even Ilsa—into setting up the final move.

City of Spies: Technically, city full of refugees and smugglers. And also spies, and vultures, vultures everywhere!

Les Collaborateurs: The police, particularly Louis — unusually, he redeems himself. Louis is in fact all cool with his normally extremely controversial behavior of opportunism. He, for instance, at one point nonchalantly informs Rick that he will go to his Nazi superior to lick ass for his own sake.

Renault: I blow with the wind, and right now, the prevailing wind blows from Vichy.

Courtly Love: Rick is a rather complex zigzag of this. In a flashback he met her in Paris and presumably did French things with her, though of course the movie doesn't say directly. Later Rick is understandably angry at not being told she was married (though at the time of their romp she believed her husband to be dead). In the final scene he settles on being satisfied with Courtly Love because he wants his beloved to be happy.

Crapsack World: The movie is more lighthearted about it than most, but it's there. Casablanca is filled with refugees fleeing from war zones or fascist police states, who are now targeted by all sorts of people seeking to exploit them. Leaving for a better place isn't impossible, but involves either a prohibitive cost that most refugees can't afford (and they often impoverish themselves further by trying to win the money through gambling), or, if you're a young attractive woman, sleeping with the local Dirty Cop. Organized crime thrives and the authorities are openly corrupt, with even the protagonist having to pay bribes to keep operating. The police shoots people in broad daylight and routinely rounds up large numbers of designated suspects simply for the pretense of efficiency. And all this is before the Nazis show up and start breathing down everyone's neck.

Cynicism Catalyst: When Ilsa abandoned Rick in Paris. (Though as Louis notes, Rick's cynicism was never as thorough as he liked to believe.) When Rick and Ilsa reconcile, Rick is able to drop the cynicism and become a straight-up hero.

Strasser: You would find the conversation a trifle one-sided. Signor Ugarte is dead.

Renault: I'm making out the report now. We haven't quite decided whether he committed suicide or died trying to escape.

Deadpan Snarker: It would almost be easier to list the speaking characters who aren't. Even Victor has his moments, both on the same subject and both verging on Black Humor as well: "In a concentration camp, one is apt to lose a little weight," and "I was in a German concentration camp for a year. That's honor enough for a lifetime." Of course, most notably Capt. Renault and Rick: their glorious Snark-to-Snark Combat resulted in a movie with some of the snappiest dialogue in film history.

Captain Renault: I've often speculated why you didn't go back to America. Did you abscond with the church funds? Did you run off with a senator's wife? I'd like to think that you killed a man. It's the romantic in me. Rick: It was a combination of all three. Captain Renault: And what in heaven's name brought you to Casablanca? Rick: My health. I came to Casablanca for the waters. Captain Renault: The waters? What waters? We're in the desert. Rick: I was misinformed.

"Dear John" Letter: Rick and Ilsa were supposed to meet at the train station to get out of Paris before the Nazis arrived. Instead, she sent a letter explaining that she couldn't be with him, for unexplained reasons. Years later they meet in Casablanca and she explains that she had returned to her husband, Victor, whom she had believed dead before getting together with Rick.

Digital Destruction: The 2008 Blu-Ray had contrast boosting and digital noise reduction, which were fortunately corrected in 2012 for the movie's 70th anniversary.

Dirty Cop: Captain Renault. He works with Nazis, collects gambling winnings despite it being illegal and it's implied that he extorts sex from women in exchange for export visas. Unlike most examples, his conscience comes through in the end.

The Don: Signor Ferrari, though a less sinister version than most. He is "the head of all illegal activities in Casablanca," but is never seen harming anyone (he'd like to hire Sam away from Rick and he'd like to take over Rick's cafe, but he doesn't try to threaten or coerce them, only making offers that would be expected from any interested businessman). He's even the one who gives Ilsa and Victor the suggestion that leads to their leaving with the letters of transit (though he may have had an ulterior motive, see Xanatos Speed Chess below).

Drink Order: Rick never drinks in his bar, until Ilsa comes in. Captain Renault notes that "a precedent is being broken." Later that night, Rick drinks alone, waiting for Ilsa to return. In their conversation the next day, he reveals what he was drinking: "Maybe it was the bourbon."

Drowning My Sorrows: When Rick learns of Ilsa, he has his famous, "Of all the gin joints in all the towns in all the world, she walks into mine" scene, drinking rather heavily while his pianist tries to snap him out of it.

Establishing Character Moment: Early on, Rick lets Ugarte get dragged away by the authorities to his death, asserting that "he sticks his neck out for no one". However, Rick's face clearly shows a moment of sympathy for Ugarte before the tough veneer reasserts itself. His line that he sticks his neck out for no one, which comes as Ugarte is being dragged away, comes across as more of an effort to convince himself and justify his seeming coldness.

Allowing the young couple to win at his rigged roulette table so they could afford to pay Louis for an exit visa, rather than the young wife having to use an alternative method of payment.

Establishing Series Moment: We see a guy shot in broad daylight and no one does a thing. Enter Rick's Cafe and we see people conducting shady business.

Played with in the case of Renault, though he's far from evil. Both he and Rick once fought on the side of the angels, with Rick running guns in Spain and Renault fighting alongside the Allies in World War I. Both drifted to Casablanca and adopted a stance of bemused neutrality. Both go through women faster than cigarettes. However, whereas Rick gruffly offers aid to a lovestruck couple here, a freedom fighter there, Renault embraced the corruption and vice that came with his police uniform.

Strasser is this to Laszlo. Both men are paragons of their factions. Curiously, both seriously underestimate Rick, albeit in different ways.

Filming For Easy Dub: The classic final line, "Louis I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship" was thought up by the producer and dubbed in by Humphrey Bogart after filming was completed.

Flashback: Of Rick and Ilsa's time together in pre-occupation Paris, and how exactly Ilsa left Rick.

Ugarte: You are a very cynical person, Rick, if you'll forgive me for saying so. Rick: I forgive you.

Forced Perspective: That plane, with the maintenance crew working on it? A scale model, and midgets. A cheap cardboard scale model, at that. The scene's fog, in addition to being atmospheric, was used to hide how fake the plane looked. A case of Real Life Writes the Plot: by the time production began, the U.S. had been drawn into World War II, and things like real planes were at a premium.

Yvonne gets in bed (literally) with the Germans, before revealing she's still a proud French patriot... just like Louis in the finale.

The young Bulgarian couple. They appear throughout the movie going through the "stages" of trying to escape the city just like Laszlo and Ilsa, the young woman is in a similar emotional situation to Ilsa in Paris and Rick at the moment, and if that weren't enough, their plight is what pushes Rick over the edge and into sticking his neck out for somebody.

Louis' theory about what crime Rick committed corresponds more or less exactly with his major plot points throughout the movie.

Louis and Rick both comment about Rick's dead idealism. Strasser is unconvinced.

During the first night of Ilsa's return into his life, Rick asks Sam about the time and day as though to commemorate the moment. The conversation underscores that the film is happening in the week before the Pearl Harbor attack, making Rick's drunken comments about "America being asleep" potent.

Friendly Enemy: Rick and Captain Renault are a textbook example until the closing scene, when, impressed by Rick's heroic sacrifice, Renault does a Heel–Face Turn. Rick famously declares, "Louis, I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship."

The "vultures everywhere" guy (Curt Bois) uses this as a cover for his pickpocketing.

Gaussian Girl: Ingrid Bergman is seldom in focus, and never in close up. There are even some wider shots where this is accomplished through messing with the depth of field, by placing the focus on Victor, behind her, even when he has no speaking lines.

"Captain Renault must be getting broad-minded." A gay joke in 1942. Immediately followed with an implication that Renault extorts sex from women for exit visas, no less. As Annina has said "My husband is with me too," this is probably intended as Threesome Subtext and/or to imply that Renault's women are usually not married.

When Ilsa meets a drunken Rick after the bar is closed, his line about having heard lots of stories while a "tinny piano" plays downstairs is subtly referencing a brothel, implying the storytellers are prostitutes. (The more direct reference, of course, is Sam's playing at La Belle Aurore.)

A more serious one, with the revelation that Rick was having an affair with a married woman. The Hays office would have had a conniption, but the Back Story helped excuse it by making it believable Ilsa would think Laszlo was dead at the time.

Louis and Rick's snark at Yvonne counts as well:

Rick: So Yvonne's gone over to the enemy.

Louis: Who knows? In her own way she may constitute an entire second front.

Good Adultery, Bad Adultery: Averted. Ilsa is arguably the love of Rick's life, and she seems willing to leave her husband Victor Laszlo for him if he asks. However, in the end, Rick decides that the right thing is to leave Ilsa and Laszlo — who are actually quite Happily Married — together (even if only for the sake of the war effort). In fact the censors were originally going to cut the line where Ilsa says Victor is her husband because it would have meant she committed adultery with Rick - but once they came to the scene where Ilsa explains that she thought Victor was dead, that was enough to justify it.

Louis: Ms. Lund, I was told you were the most beautiful woman who had ever come to Casablanca. That was a gross understatement.

Heroic B.S.O.D.: Rick gets two. First when Ilsa leaves him in Paris, and again when she reappears in Casablanca.

Heroic Neutral: Rick, since he represents America at the beginning of World War II. His idealistic younger self fought alongside those resisting fascism, but the expansion of Axis authority and being suddenly abandoned by the love of his life made him cynical and apathetic. He doesn't take sides with the Vichy authorities, the Nazis or the resistance, until the plot of the film awakens the hero within. Major Strasser, equipped with "a full dossier" on Rick, is smart enough that he doesn't attempt to convert Rick, just keep him neutral. It doesn't work.

Heterosexual Life-Partners: Rick and Sam. At the end, it may be that Rick and Louis will be heterosexual life partners, as Sam is (probably) staying in Casablanca, and the other two are going to Brazzaville to fight Nazis.

"Louis, I think this might be the beginning of a beautiful friendship."

"I'm shocked — shocked! — to find that gambling is going on in here." "Your winnings, sir." "Oh, thank you very much."

A more subtle example is Rick's repeated claim that he "sticks his neck out for nobody," and then spends pretty much the entire movie sticking his neck out for one person or another.

And, once again, the "vultures everywhere" guy, who is, himself, one of the vultures he is warning you about.

Early in the movie, Renault tells Rick, "In Casablanca, I am the master of my fate." He is then immediately summoned to kowtow to Major Strasser. The realization that he is not truly the master of his fate, at least as long as the Nazis have anything to say about it, may be part of what motivates his Heel–Face Turn at the end of the movie.

Implausible Deniability: After Rick blatantly gives instructions to the roulette croupier and the same number comes up twice in a row, Karl answers a customer's reasonable questioning of the casino's honesty with, "Honest? As honest as the day is long!" (Also Hypocritical Humor, since Karl knows what happened as well as anyone.)

Rick: Of all the gin joints in all the towns in all the world, she walks into mine."

I Want My Beloved to Be Happy: A defining theme of the movie. Although this is justified more than the trope typically is. "If that plane takes off and you're not on it, you'll regret it. Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but soon, and for the rest of your life." Also, he was talking about the work Laszlo was doing more than just being with him. Both men care more about her safety and happiness than which of them "wins". At this point Rick believes he's going to be arrested and sent to a concentration camp once Strasser arrives and it's as much about Ilsa's safety as it is her happiness.

Signore Ferrari, much lesser extent: "I am moved to make one more suggestion; why, I do not know, because it cannot possibly profit me, but, have you heard about Signor Ugarte and the letters of transit...?"

Knight in Sour Armor: Rick is a jaded and weary man who projects a selfish façade, but he's also a romantic with noble goals.

Lady of War: Ilsa seems to be a Damsel in Distress trying to be a Lady of War. More important, what she really is, is every soldier's favorite princess. Which might make this a successful attempt at inspiring the World War II version of Courtly Love from fans.

Ferrari is the ultimate capitalist and crook who never does anything except for money. Yet at one point Ferrari helps Victor Lazlo find the precious letters of transit and wants nothing in return. That's out of character, illogical. Knowing this, the writers gave Ferrari the line: "Why, I do not know, because it cannot possibly profit me..." Rather than hiding the hole, the writers admitted it with the bold lie that Ferrari might be impulsively generous. The audience knows we often do things for reasons we can't explain. Complimented, it nods, thinking, "Even Ferrari doesn't get it. Fine. On with the film."

Rick asking "Are my eyes really brown?" It is a black and white film, after all. note They are.

When a drunken Rick asks Ilsa "Does it (the story about why she left him) have a wow finish?" the script itself was still undergoing massive rewrites. At the time the scene was filmed, nobody knew what the finish would be...

The opening of the Deutschlandlied (the German national anthem, here played in a minor key to make it sound more sinister) represents Nazi Germany, and Major Strasser in particular.

Loads and Loads of Characters: Despite revolving around three leads, the film has a large cast of characters. It has 22 speaking parts, many of whom play some kind of significant role in the plot (or get at least one moment in the limelight). This is often cited as one of the key reasons the film works as well as it does: Rick and Ilsa are but a small part of a much bigger picture - you might even say their problems don't amount to a hill of beans in their crazy world.

It's perfectly okay to tear up when Rick gets that letter at the train station.

It's also perfectly okay when Rick performs his noble speech at the end telling Ilsa to go with Laszlo.

May–December Romance: Ilsa is noticeably younger than Victor and significantly younger than Rick. Lampshaded in Rick’s repeated line to Ilsa (‘Here’s looking at you, kid’) and when Ilsa and Rick discuss in the Flashback what they were doing 10 years beforehand—Ilsa was getting her braces, Rick was looking for a job.

Music for Courage: The French national anthem scene "La Marseillaise" is played as a beautiful answer to "Die Wacht am Rhein". A Nazi at the back in the shot where Maj. Strasser is conducting accidentally sings a bar of the Marseillaise, then looks embarrassed. Part of the reason that scene is so powerful is that many of the extras were actually European refugees. That woman you see crying during the song? She was French, hearing her country's anthem for the first time in years - not the character, the actress.

For all that is revealed, we still don't know why (and exactly when) he left America or why he can't return.

Major Strasser: Richard Blaine, American. Age, 37. Cannot return to his country. The reason is a little vague.

Rick's past was such a mystery, even the writers didn't know. They spent a lot of time trying to come up with something appropriately cool; they failed. One finally suggested 'unpaid parking tickets.' That was the point when they gave up and left it "a little vague."

Louis: Did you abscond with the church funds? Run off with a senator's wife? I like to think you killed a man; it's the romantic in me.

Rick is wearing Bogie's iconic Fedora during the final scenes. Also during the Paris railway station platform scene.

Noodle Incident: The reason Rick can't return to America is never disclosed in the film. The Neutrality Acts of the 1930s were in play and the writers apparently attempted to come up with the exact reason numerous times, but eventually decided to leave it to our imaginations, and hung a lampshade on it by having Renault bring up various theories (see Deadpan Snarker above) of either stealing money, seducing another man's wife, or killing a man. By the end of the movie, Rick does all three: cheats on his bet with Louis about Victor's escape, rekindles the love affair with Ilsa (even as she leaves with Victor), and shoots Major Strasser.

Percussive Pickpocket: Used for a Brick Joke. At the start of the movie, we see a pickpocket at work. Later the pickpocket (really) accidentally bumps into Karl, who frantically checks his pockets to make sure his wallet is still there.

The Power of Rock: Victor Laszlo overhears Those Wacky Nazis singing a patriotic (and anti-French) German song around the piano, goes over to the band, and gets them to play "La Marseillaise", with Rick's approval. The entire bar joins in, drowning out the Germans and emphasizing the passionate political undertones of the refugees.

Properly Paranoid: Karl, after the slightest contact with the "vultures everywhere" pickpocket, checks himself thoroughly for his valuables. Also Laszlo: when Ferrari points out that he and Lisa are being followed, Victor smiles, "Of course; it becomes an instinct."

Punch-Clock Hero: Rick tries to paint himself this way when discussing his previous anti-fascist activities, but Renault punctures this by pointing out the other side would have paid better.

Punch-Clock Villain: Captain Renault, who makes it clear he's happy to cooperate with the Nazis as long as they remain in power, without caring about their ideology one way or another.

Ransacked Room: Alluded to when Rick tells Captain Renault his men were so thorough in searching for the letters of transit that the staff just barely got the mess cleaned up in time to open that night.

"The Reason You Suck" Speech: Ilsa gives Rick one when she’s in his office and refuses to give her the letter, calling him out on his choice to screw over the Resistance just for being snubbed. She quickly apologises, though.

La Résistance: Lazlo is a key player in European Resistance movements. By the end of the film, it's implied that Rick and Louis Renault join the French Resistance.

Romantic False Lead: An unusual twist: Either Victor or Rick could be considered a False Lead once you know the Backstory. In the DVD commentary, Roger Ebert points out that no matter with whom Ilsa leaves at the end, she's leaving with the wrong man. Ingrid Bergman claims that she consciously attempted to avoid this trope by presenting Ilsa as having to decide between two men she genuinely loves, each in his own way. In addition, the outcome wasn't written in the script while they were filming it and The Hays Code wouldn't have allowed the showing of a movie in which she left her husband for another man in that fashion.

Scarpia Ultimatum: The scene with a young Bulgarian couple trying to buy passage to Lisbon from Captain Renault. He wants either a very large sum of money or sex with the wife. In the end, Rick helps them raise the money cheating to let them win at roulette. In contrast to most examples of this trope, Captain Renault apparently always does keep his word and is willing to take the money if they do happen to have it. It's what lets him keep the 'Affable' in Affably Evil.

Renault: I'll forgive you this time. But I'll be in tomorrow night with a breathtaking blonde, and it will make me very happy if she loses.

If you presume that Rick is the Anthropomorphic Personification of the United States, it applies to him too. He tries to stay out of the conflict of the plot, despite his personal history with Ilsa, and run his business. Now consider that the film takes place in the first week of December, 1941.

Screw This, I'm Outta Here!: When Rick and Ilsa start talking the first time, Sam immediately packs up the piano and slips away. In fact he flees the scene like the club has caught fire.

Sequel Hook: Renault's line about joining a French garrison in Brazzaville was meant to lead into a thankfully unmade sequel called ''Brazaville''.

Sliding Scale of Idealism vs. Cynicism: Pretty much the point of the movie. "I suspect that under that cynical shell you are at heart a sentimentalist." Of course, Louis is right when he says that of Rick. And because Rousseau Was Right, it turns out to be true of everyone, even the local crime lord and corrupt, lecherous Louis himself. Except Strasser, of course.

Smart People Play Chess: Rick is introduced playing chess with himself. This came from Bogart himself, who was an avid chess player.

Smug Snake: Renault, although Louis is really just too cool to remain a bad guy through the whole picture, so he reforms at the end so he and Rick can fight Nazis together.

Supporting Leader: Victor Laszlo. The resolution to the romantic plot revolves entirely around Rick acknowledging that Victor is way, way more important than he is.

Take That!: When Captain Heinz asks Rick if he could imagine Nazis being in London, Rick replies, "When you get there, ask me." At this time, both in universe and real life, Germany had already abandoned any plans to invade Britain.

Those Wacky Nazis: Not insane or out-and-out evil like modern views, but not good, obviously.

Title Drop: Here of the (unproduced) play it was adapted from. Captain Renault's "Everybody comes to Rick's". The word "Casablanca" is spoken many times, too. Justified, being the city in which the story is set.

Very Loosely Based on a True Story: The band contest. There was an actual Bar Brawl in a neutral Balkan establishment between a visiting American adventurer and some German visitors over whether German or Allied themed music would be played. It caused a political incident, but was well known enough for President Roosevelt (who thought the whole thing rather funny) to hear of it.

Villain Song: Strasser and his men briefly sing a patriotic tune in Rick's club... which, in the film's defining Crowning Moment of Awesome, is then drowned out by "Marseillaise," sung by the club's other patrons led by Victor.

Villainous Breakdown: When he's captured by the police in Casablanca, Ugarte has a brief but memorable breakdown.

Weapons Understudies: Major Strasser arrives in Casablanca in a Fokker Super Universal instead of a Junkers Ju 52, which was the preferred transport aircraft of the Luftwaffe but obviously only available in Germany during the war.

"Of all the gin joints in all the towns in all the world - she drops into mine!"

Wild Card: Renault agrees to do whatever will help maintain his cushy position. He leaks word of Laszlo's escape to Strasser, but once the Major is shot dead, Renault figures that his law enforcement career is up in smoke, too — and there's no point to turning Rick in.

Xanatos Speed Chess: Possibly Ferrari, behind the scenes. We know he wants Rick's Cafe and all of the talent Rick has running it. So, when Ilsa and Victor approach him, he offers: "I am moved to make one more suggestion; why, I do not know, because it cannot possibly profit me, but, have you heard about Signor Ugarte and the letters of transit...?" In the end, he gains Rick's Cafe and most of the talent running it, so it did profit him. He also has little to gain from the Nazis closely watching the black market.

You Cannot Kill An Idea: Victor Lazslo tries to assert this about La Résistance against the Nazis. The film itself does a good job of illustrating the concept. Unfortunately Those Wacky Nazis also have ideas, and ones that Laszlo is kinda, you know, trying to kill.

Ilsa visits Rick to try to get him to give her the letters of transit, when he refuses, she picks up his gun and threatens to shoot him. Rick's response: "If you'll stick at nothing to get those letters, then go on. Here, I'll make it easy for you." She doesn't shoot. Variation because Rick is saying (paraphrased), "If you're the Ilsa I knew you won't shoot me, but if you will, then I have no desire to live."

Rick threatening Major Strasser. Strasser doesn't say anything, but continues his (phone) call and seems to be calling Rick's bluff. He gets shot. It's awkward to observe from the angle, but Strasser also attempts to shoot Rick.

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